


Arrow Security

by Mel_Sanfo



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: F/F, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-31
Updated: 2015-07-31
Packaged: 2018-04-12 04:35:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 16,685
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4465634
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mel_Sanfo/pseuds/Mel_Sanfo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU. Felicity Smoak is the owner of Arrow Security; A small elite security services company. When Diggle, former employee and  good friend, asks for her immediate assistance with a situation that's quickly going wrong Felicity decides to help. With most of her team busy with other jobs Felicity will have to take a hands on approach instead of the usual safety of her computer center. </p><p>*Currently on HIATUS*</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This story was born out of my desire to have a kick ass Felicity. I wanted Oliver to be the one that needed saving so this was born. I started this on FanFiction.net and then got blocked on it. I still haven't gotten over that but I wanted to transfer it here. 
> 
> Enjoy.

The last thing that Felicity had expected from what was supposed to be a slow Wednesday afternoon was that she'd be  gearing up for a mission. It had been years since she'd taken on the role of a Specialist for the company that she now ran but it didn't surprise her that it was very much like riding a bike. If by riding you meant breaking several traffic laws, along with the impending hacking of surveillance and traffic cams to erase all evidence of breaking said laws, and by bike you meant a customized motorbike that was her baby, as much as her computer set up at the company was.

Arrow Security was the business she had inherited from her mentor when he'd decided to retire and move to Florida. With her MIT degree she'd taken it more towards internet security but still offered bodyguard services as well as private self-defense classes and weapons training for those that could afford it. The less than legal part of their job was only offered to those who had knowledge of it, which was a really small group of people within security services and groups that needed an assist every once in a while, and a 3R was the top service.. When the call had come in for a 3R (rescue, retrival and removal) she'd been in a tough spot. First, she hadn't done one of those in a few years. Second, her capable staff was busy with other endeavors except for Sara who was 'grounded' due to injury and was now manning her system in order to help her out during her outing. Third, and most important of all, the job had come out of the blue, plus it was VERY high profile and with very little time for preparation. The 'off the cuff' plan was what bugged her the most but there was very little to be done about it now that she was practically flying down the street on her bike with an ETA of 2 mintes.

"Remind me again why exactly I am doing this?" she asked into the integrated communication unit on her helmet.

"That'd be because the father of your god-daughter, your brother from another mother, asked you for an assist. He seems to be in a real pickle this time." Sara's voice replied "I'm keeping an eye on things with the news feed as well as the police scanner and that mob is getting angrier by the second."

"How's it looking?"

"Well, let's just say it hasn't hit the fan yet but there's some serious trouble brewing." Was the reply "You've got news vans, paparazzi and the angry mob, plus police are on scene trying to control the situation a bit. Lucky for us the boys in blue like me and have prepped the left side of the perimeter in somewhat of an opening for you."

"About to turn the corner now." The roar of the bike between her thighs ramping up the adrenaline in her veins. Once she had stopped the bike at the corner she took in the situation herself. It did not look good at all. It wasn't the first time that she had to remove someone from a mob but this was about to reach fever pitch. THAT had to be avoided at all costs. "No sight of pitchforks at least. Patch Big Brother through."

It took but a second before Sara's voice came through the comm with a simple "Done!"

"Oracle?" The low voice that joined into the conversation was as known to her as her own. It was a voice that she loved like family.

"That'd be me today!" A pleased Sara quipped.

"What? How did that happen?" Digg asked sounding confused.

"Technically since someone decided it was a great idea to get her leg broken on a parkour accident I'm playing Specialist for you, Big Brother, and that someone is at the helm of my computer babies so I'm not Oracle today. I hope you appreciate the sacrifice." She replied through clenched teeth. She had a thing for not letting others work on her computers, after all, but needs must and compared to her other minions Sara was the most qualified. There was no way she was letting Roy near her babies! "It's looking a bit tight to do a removal but I'm at the corner. Did you get the necessary accessory for my soon to be ward?"

"He's ready to go." He replied

"Good. Here's how it's going to happen. I'm coming in fast, stopping at the point entry, doing a 180 and waiting for 3 seconds before I head out; Cargo or no cargo. Although I'm really hoping there'll be cargo or else this whole ride has been a waste of time, energy and nerves on my part. I mean, the least he could do is get on the bike when the opportunity presents itself, if he's interested in getting out of there in one piece and all because I can see the mob right now and…"

"Arrow." He stopped her at mid rant. It helped the situation that she could hear the smile on his voice. She hadn't been called that since she'd stepped down as a Specialist due to her motorcycle accident a few years back and yet, even if she'd been scared at first, hearing it sent a thrill down her spine even if she'd never admit it to anyone. "He's ready to go."

"Let me guess, he doesn't like the fact that he'll be riding bitch?" she asked with a grin revving the bike a few times, getting into Specialist mind frame.

"Most guys never are." Sara snickered

"Right." Felicity took a deep breath closing her eyes for a moment before settling her gaze on the building. "Brother, get him to the entrance. I'm off. Radio silence starts now."

Without giving herself a moment to doubt her decision she revved the bike with one foot on the ground, using her body to turn the machine she took the crosswalk's small ramp to get on the sidewalk and then she was riding, her hunter green Ducati a blur of speed, the motorcycle's engine roaring menacingly down her chosen path. Avoiding the few people that were too stunned by the sudden appearance of a motorcycle on the sidewalk to get out of her way was easy enough, her body memory serving her well as she swerved past them and onwards. She flew past the police officers that hadn't finished placing the caution tape on the left of the perimeter (probably Sara's doing) and moved on. Perched low on the bike before the entrance of the building she maneuvered the bike with her body once more till she was facing the way she had come from and waited.

1 Mississippi

2 Mississippi

With the corner of her eye she saw the tall figure approach from the glass doors wearing a motorcycle helmet she recognized, it took him only two long strides and then there was a fleeting touch of a hand on her shoulder. It was a big hand, definitely male and then the dip of the motorbike as someone climbed behind her with ease. The blood on her ears and the adrenaline muted the sounds of surprise and outrage from the crowd around her. It was time to get going. She didn't give it much thought; as soon as the body behind her molded itself to hers; thighs framing hers, large hands holding the sides of her small waist securely, a hard chest to her back, she was getting them out of there.

To their credit the police officers had decided against the caution tape altogether and did nothing but gape as she passed them for the second time in less than a minute. She'd have to send Sara's dad a really big fruit basket for putting up her their antics yet again! She could hear a commotion behind her as the crowd came out of their shock, reacting to the sudden lack of their intended target and she felt her ward shift slightly behind her, probably looking over his shoulder, before he was facing forward again loosening his grip on her waist slightly. She had them roaring down the street and far away from the hot spot in a flash.

"The little prince has been acquired." She spoke into the comms once she put several blocks between them and the angry mob. "How's my escape route looking?"

"It's a clear shot for you to get to home base, Arrow. The news vans are still trying to get through the mayhem with the crowd and the few paparazzi that had motorcycles and tried to follow you found themselves in a situation with the police." Sara spoke through the comms, a smile obvious on her tone of voice.

"Good. Big Brother, you got the prince set up with the comm on your helmet?"

"He's set." Digg said at once.

"It's been a while since we'd had a four way… NOT that we've ever had one like THAT, definitely not that way cuz that'd just be gross. It'd be all too incest-y and stuff. Not that you guys aren't attractive or anything just. No one is stopping me and my brain hates me when I'm hyped up on adrenaline… 3 2 1."

"Just when you're hyped up on adrenaline?" Sara asked sweetly "You're too cute."

There was a low chuckle that came through the comms from Digg and a huff that couldn't be identified from her passenger, although she hoped it wasn't one of annoyance.

With a heavy sigh she reigned in her thoughts and started again.

"First things first, hopefully with minimal babbling on my part. Hello Little Prince. In case you haven't caught on that'd be you, my dark passenger. I'm your Specialist for the day, you can call me Arrow. No real names will be used for the remainder of your ride with me, for security purposes. Although our frequency is totally secure thanks to yours truly it's better to err on the safe side. We have Oracle and Big Brother with us on the comm line. Anything you say, as they remind me whenever I do an epic babble…"

"Like the one right before introductions." Sara provided helpfully.

"Can and will be used against you. But mostly it's just used against me since I obviously can't stop talking." She murmured while taking a turn.

If she had something to say about her passenger it was that he was good at riding. He wasn't fidgety, nor was he rigid, he didn't seem at all nervous; instead he took the turns with her easily moving with the bike and didn't look overly concerned with her chosen speeds. He was also surprisingly silent.

"I'll take that as my cue. Meet you at home base." Digg said and disconnected from the link without another word.

"Oracle?" she prompted

"Still looking like a clear shot." Sara provided. "No tails and no police squads on your way home."

"All right. ETA is 5 minutes or less." Felicity offered sounding calmer after her foot in mouth bout.

"Gotcha. I'll keep an eye out and come back on the line if anything happens." She offered

"Don't get too comfortable in my chair." Felicity stated

"Wouldn't dream of it." Was the reply and with a click she was also gone from the link.

When they made it to the building Felicity rode the bike straight into the garage with practiced ease and parked next to a few other vehicles, a red bike entering the garage soon after hers and taking position right by hers. Her passenger got off the motorcycle without a problem, taking off the helmet and looking around. The garage looked more like a mechanics shop than anything else; it held several inconspicuous looking cars as well as a few motorcycles. It had work benches and setups found on mechanic shops, even a few stacks of tires and a tire changing station.

As he took everything in Felicity dismounted the bike and took off her own helmet, placing it on the seat she pushed her glasses up on her nose and turned to take a good look at her unknown passenger for the first time. There hadn't been much of a chance to talk to Digg about who she was transporting, all she needed to know was that Digg trusted him and that he needed her help to get the guy out of the situation he was in. She was NOT prepared to be face to face with one of the most hated, though the hate in her opinion was misplaced, men in Starling City. The gossip mags and paparazzi pictures did NOT do him justice. And boy was he handsome in real life! Thinking that she'd had all that handsomeness pressed tight against her back for the ride here made her brain stutter as she stared.

Tall with broad shoulders, though he had nothing on Digg shoulder widthwise, he had short dark blonde hair, stubble and the deepest set of blue eyes she had ever seen. And, of course, he was looking straight at her with a slight tilt of his head that was way too adorable for any other adult male to pull off. How was this her life?

"We gave you such a wrong code name for this mission that it's not even funny. You are not little… I mean… not that you're big or fat or anything like that, I just mean that you're tall. Which is funny because I was just thinking of coming face to face with you but level wise there's really no way for me to do that without a stepping stool or something equally helpful to boost my height. And anyway there's no way I'd know if you're big or not. NOT that I'm thinking about your size or anything and I'm not saying you're small in that department, that I'm most definitely not thinking about, I'm just saying that I wouldn't be privy to that information…Frack, I shouldn't have used the word privy in this conversation and for the love of Google I'm still talking." Pressing her lips together she tried to force herself to stop the words as best she could while hoping the floor would open up and swallow her whole, looking up at the ceiling as if asking for divine intervention.

"Way to go, Blondie. I always say put the customers at ease by discussing their private parts size or weight. If that's a rule of a customer service book you just broke it two seconds after dismounting. Nice record." Roy offered placing a hand on her shoulder walking past her, offering a nod in greeting to their 'client' ,which the client returned, and moving on towards the office door at the back of the garage.

She mock glared at the back of Roy's head for a few seconds but once they were alone and Felicity's face had stopped burning with embarrassment she turned her attention once more to her riding partner for the day.

"Hi." He said with a half a smirk that did some funny things to her insides. "I'm Oliver Queen."

"I know who you are." She replied quickly "You're Mr. Queen."

"No. Mister Queen was my father."

"Yeah but he's dead…I mean he drowned…but you obviously skipped the Love Boat trip to fantasy island, survived so you could be blamed for his and your mother's foiled master evil plan to decimate part of the city so that in turn I could rescue you from an angry group of people and bring you here so you'd have the chance to hear me babble epicly about inappropriate four ways, your parents wrong doings and your size." Biting her lower lip with a mortified expression she closed her eyes and counted back from 3, then added counting back from 10 to that. Reopening her eyes she glanced up at him to find him with a full-fledged smirk on his face.

"And you are?"

"Highly embarrassed, for one." She said without thinking, shaking her head she sighed and smiled sheepishly. "Felicity, Felicity Smoak."

"Felicity." He repeated, as if he had been born to say her name every day. "Felicity 'Arrow' Smoak."

He was looking deeply into her blue eyes, trying to decipher the small woman before him as he said her name, savoring it. Committing it to memory. He couldn't tell why but there was something different about this Felicity Smoak. For all intents and purposes he should be appalled by all or most that came out of her mouth but he was mostly amused if not downright charmed, her babbling making her surprisingly endearing.

Her brain seemed to be in a full reboot due to the man, for no apparent reason other that no one in her lifetime had said her name that way, sending tingles down her spine in a delicious manner. For a second she wished she was wearing something other than her green leather's and riding boots, which matched the color of her bike perfectly.

The ring tone of a phone went off and the spell of their intense eye contact was suddenly broken. Reaching for his pocket he took out a slick top of the line cell phone and after motioning for her to give him a moment he placed it to his ear, having swiped the screen to accept the incoming call.

"Yes, Diggle?"

Taking a deep breath and releasing it slowly she turned towards her bike and inspected it, making sure that it hadn't sustained any type of damage during her adventure of the day. Grabbing a nearby tool she took off the smoke colored cover that hid her license plate number when she was out on a mission, putting it away for future use. She really had to get a hold of her brain around this guy. Sure, he was handsome, but if there was one man that was trouble in Starling City that was playboy Billionare Oliver Queen. Without counting his good looks his charm was said to ooze off of this man and make women, and some men, incapable of higher thinking capabilities which was why she needed to stay on her toes.

The sound of a car at the entrance of the garage made Felicity look over her shoulder, a smile gracing her features as she recognized the man behind the wheel. The car came to a stop and he exited the vehicle, dressed to the nines on his bodyguard/driver suit. Digg posed an imposing figure with his height, width and those three trunk arms of his.

"Oliver." He greeted with a nod and a smile her way. "Hey little sister."

Making her way towards him she gave him a quick hug, him having to bend at the waist slightly and her having to stand on her tip toes to wrap her arms around his shoulders somewhat successfully, straightening his lapels afterwards in a caring manner.

"See? He's all in one piece. I didn't even hold it against him that he stole you from me as a full time employee. Go me." She offered with small fist pump and another big smile, which she shared with both men. "But you better take him away before I make a bigger fool out of myself, big brother. My foot in mouth disease has been exponential in his presence for some reason." A bit of a blush adorned her cheeks at her admittance. Yup, Oliver Queen needed to get out of her building before she said something even worse. If there was any innuendo left to be said she was sure it'd just bubble up within her and spew out at any moment now… "Are we still on for lasagna night on Saturday?"

"You know it."

"Good." Turning to her client of the day she smiled a small smile and offered her hand. "It was a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Queen."

"Oliver, please." He corrected while taking her hand and shaking it very gently on his big hand.

"Oliver." She repeated with a quick nod. She was not going to turn to mush over the bachelor and Prince of Starling City. she replayed in her mind. No matter the big hands, the blue eyes, the charm and the delicious cologne. No sir!

A glance over her shoulder showed her John Diggle giving Oliver a death glare all big brothers have patented before his expression changed to stoicism and then warmth towards her.

"Today's service is on your tab, Digg."

"Let me guess. Wine?" he offered with a knowing grin

"And Mint chip ice cream for dessert Saturday." She added headed for the back of the garage. "Let me know if you need another assist." Those were her parting words before she disappeared into the back office, the same way Roy had gone before her.

Turning to his driver/bodyguard/friend with a small grin on his face after having watched the petite blonde go Oliver was struck by the look the other man was giving him.

"Something to say, Diggle?"

"Don't. Oliver. Just don't."

A beat of silence passed between the two men, a silent conversation of just eye contact between them before Oliver cracked. He HAD to know.

"Is she…always like that?" he barreled through, choosing to ignore Digg's warning for the time being.

"Like what?" the other man asked walking over to open the door of the car for his 'boss'.

"Remarkable." Of all the adjectives that seemed to pop up in his head regarding his savior for the day that one word seemed to encompass her best. Sure, he had noticed she was attractive. Beautiful even, with the blonde hair and blue eyes, even the glasses enhanced her instead of detracting from her, which for a guy who preferred brunettes was a lot to say. But it didn't seem to quite cover describing her. Remarkable on the other hand was perfect.

"Yes." Digg answered with a curt nod standing by the door with his hands folded before him "Now, get in the car before you get any ideas."

With one last look towards the door that the blonde had disappeared into Oliver got in the car and settled in the expensive comfort, letting his head drop against the headrest of the seat. 'Too late' the little voice on his head whispered.

Even if today had been a hellish day, with him trying to do some damage control towards the can of worms that had been his parents 'cleansing of the city' foiled plans and trying to get the company on stable ground enough to keep it going and making a difference, taking it on a different direction that his parents had, there was one thing of the day that he could honestly say he enjoyed. The foot in mouth ramblings of a certain charming blonde that he wouldn't mind seeing again; even if it meant he had to stage his rescue.


	2. Chapter 2

"You're distracted."

It was the third time his back had hit the training mats and his sparring partner was anything but amused. Looking up at the ceiling lights of his house gym the younger man wasn't sure if he should just call it a day and accept that the other man had kicked his ass enough or if giving it another go was worth the effort.

"Maybe you're too focused today, Diggle."

With a snort the man that was still standing offered Oliver his hand and helped him to his feet.

"Yeah, Okay. Let's say for the sake of argument that I am, that still leaves the fact that you're distracted."

"Well, there's a lot going on, Digg, in case you haven't noticed."

"Oh, I've noticed." The man replied instantly while reaching for two bottles of water from the edge of the mat, handing over one to his friend. "What's on your mind, Oliver?"

After his father's shipwreck Oliver's world had been turned upside down. He was supposed to be on the boat with his father for that trip to China but after another night on a long drinking and partying binge he'd woken up on a strange girl's bed to a text from his father saying how disappointed he was that Oliver hadn't shown up and that he would deal with him after his business trip.

Only that never came to pass. Instead the ship had gone down leaving no survivors and Oliver had the rudest awakening possible. With his mom grieving, barely getting out of her room and Thea needing him more than ever before there was no choice to make. He had to change. It had to be an immediate night to day, 180 degrees, irreparable change. He was TRULY his sister's role model now and impromptu father figure to boot. He was head of the household and all he had left as words of wisdom from his father were a series of texts telling him how much of a disappointment he was.

So he changed. With the weight of the world on his shoulders there was nothing to be done but change. He was forged from fire into something stronger, better. There were the funeral arrangements, after the search was officially called off, the lawyers, the press conferences and statements. Everything was a blur; even to this day he can't remember it all. His mother and sister had each other for comfort mostly while he set his life on track. All in order to make his father proud, his family proud, to be the man that he would've wanted him to be, to honor the parent he lost.

He and Laurel took a time out on their relationship that turned into a full on break up further down the line; if it had been a divorce it more than likely would've been on grounds of irreconcilable differences, he stopped partying with Tommy, though the friendship was still strong and enrolled himself on SCU for a degree in Business.

Gone was the carefree boy who couldn't wait to get to the next party to try the new drink or drug. Gone were the impromptu trips to wherever he pointed in a map just to impress a pretty face with one of the family's private jet. Gone were the long nights of staying up bedding whoever had caught his short attention span and sneaking out of their place without as much as a goodbye the next morning. Instead he grew up. And he grew up fast.

He shadowed Walter Steele and his mother at QC in the afternoons trying to learn the business left behind by his father while filling up his mornings and evenings with classes at the university in order to graduate as fast as possible. He worked out with his trainers before class, stuck to his schedules and his obligations to his family, especially to Thea, religiously. But no matter how much he tried, how much he evolved, the shadows of his past were always there. The press and paparazzi never ever let him forget how he'd messed up; Whether it was the infamous 'Ollie Queen peeing on a cop car' headline, some video of his younger self eating sushi off of a hot girl in a salacious way or some less than flattering pictures from the endless 'vault' of shame. At one point or another 'Ollie's' greatest hits always surfaced.

It didn't matter that years had gone by and he had been nothing but an exemplary citizen. He'd never really be able to stay out of the spotlight but his demeanor had changed so much he wasn't that interesting to paparazzi anymore. Everyone loved Ollie the mess and waited impatiently for his fall from his hard earned responsible adult pedestal. So when he decided that his first venture as a businessman would be to open a club with his best friend the whole thing was heralded as Ollie's impending return.

They couldn't have been more wrong. Verdant was a success due to the fact that Tommy and himself were NOT drinking themselves to a stupor every chance they got. There was a focus now that hadn't been there before. With Tommy's dad freezing his trust fund and Oliver's desire to be more than just the fuck up that his dad had been so disappointed in, they strived to do better together. Sure, they put in appearances during the nights the club was open, had one or two drinks but always kept their eye on the prize. The Princes' of Starling had their tiny kingdom to rule over in Verdant and they took it seriously, even if they did make it look fun.

So when their parents' plan to decimate part of the city came to the light, a nameless hacktivist former employee of Merlyn Global having uncovered the whole plot and posting it for the world to see on the internet and other media, the repercussions were bad. He had taken over the position of CEO from Walter only a year before but now the sins of the father were directly affecting the son and investors were reluctant to deal with the company that had his last name on the side of the building. The stock and faith on the Queen name was in a fast decline. Tommy had no interest to take anything from his father, the mastermind behind what the media was calling 'The Undertaking', leaving him solely as a half owner of a club and not much else.

Malcolm Merlyn had been found to be the lead in the plan to hurt the city, a desire to avenge his fallen wife gone terribly wrong, forcing others of wealth to support his misguided cause by means of blackmail and other violent means. His mother had been a participant, along with many other 1 percenters of the city, an accomplice to a heinous act that would have cost thousands of lives if achieved. And though the participants had been apprehended and incarcerated, awaiting what promised to be a long long trial, the people of the city were not forgiving to their heirs; And for good reason. The anger and mistrust of the wealthy was at an all-time high now. Even if the offspring of most of the participants had been cleared of any blame and were trying to aid the investigation in any way. The Queens and the sole Merlyn offspring were now targets and Oliver had never been happier to have thought of a contingency plan that included training himself, and Thea, for the possibility that their lives wouldn't be smooth sailing, all the pun intended, after their father's death. Sure, there had always been threats about kidnappings and other acts of violence towards them, after all who doesn't want to make themselves rich easy by forcefully babysitting a billionaire for a few hours only to return then unharmed once the money had changed hands? But the threat was worse now.

And it had been proven to him two days previous when the information of his meeting with his lawyers had been leaked and all hell had broken loose, forcing him to escape the scene on the back of a motorcycle before the crowd could get to him.

"I don't know what to think, Digg. That's what bothers me. The more I think about it the more questions there is. But I keep coming back to this gut feeling, I don't know if its paranoia or survival instinct or what but I'm thinking that it wasn't a fluke." He answered after having taken a drink from his water. "Something doesn't add up about it."

Leaning against the treadmill Digg thought back to the situation. Yes, the paparazzi were always a pain in the ass to get rid off but it hadn't been just that, it was the media and the people.

"You're thinking the information came from within." The older man said finally.

With a somber nod Oliver wiped his bare chest and face with a towel before hanging it off to the side, on one of the elliptical machines his sister loved using so much. Running a hand through his hair he sighed heavily.

"Can you think of something else? There is no way that that many people could gather that quickly if they hadn't been told in advanced. It's one thing to have one or two paparazzi always at the ready but we're talking about at least a few hundred people gathered for no other purpose than to tear me apart." He said "I don't like it."

"What about the law firm? Could it have been someone from there that tipped them off? Make some extra cash on the side?"

"I don't think so. There's a reason why my family uses that particular firm. It'd be a stupid move to gain a few dollars and lose a job." Oliver answered pulling a t-shirt over his head. "But we can't rule it out. They're very good at dealing with high priority clients though; their whole business could collapse if these kinds of slip ups were common."

"Well, it's either on them or it's on us, Oliver. And to be honest I know damn well which idea I dislike more."

"I just don't want what happened to me happening to Thea, Digg." Oliver said at once. "She says she knows the risks but I don't think she fully understands."

"Ah. To be young, invincible and reckless." Diggle offered with a shake of his head before he sighed heavily.

As much as he hated to admit it the whole situation had seemed fishy to him too. The whole idea they were even considering this an inside job made him even more uneasy than he already was. He always took pride on being a good bodyguard, after his years of service, there was something noble about his job and this whole thing had made him wonder if they were really taking things as serious as they were. Could he have made a critical mistake? He didn't think so. An inside job to weaken the security was never good news and with things so heated between the people of Starling and the Queens it was simply something that they couldn't afford. Not if everyone was going to remain in one piece.

"If this was an inside job, Oliver, we're going to need a contractor. Someone from the outside to look into it with fresh eyes. Someone that we trust, that can look at our protocols and pinpoint where the leak happened and who caused it."

"And where do you propose we find someone like that?" Oliver asked with a slight hint of annoyance in his voice.

A grin suddenly bloomed on the older man's face.

"I know exactly who we need, Oliver." He offered cryptically "You wouldn't happen to have a bottle of 1982 Lafite Rothschild lying around in your cellar, would you?"

"What?"

"It's a bribe, Oliver. The person we need has a weakness for good wine. Red wine specifically." He offered.

The moment of realization lit up the younger man's face, a small smile tugging at his lips and erasing all the scowling and frowning he'd been doing for the past two days, since the moment they'd left a garage of an undisclosed location.

"We need Felicity Smoak." He said as if her name held nothing short of wonder before turning to look at his friend/bodyguard "I thought you said I shouldn't get any ideas?"

"I don't think you should." Was the reply "Today proved I can kick your ass if needed be so I suggest keeping it strictly professional. Besides, you can afford the wine and she's the best at what she does. It is simply a smart choice to get her on this job. As a bonus, she hates mysteries." He offered heading towards the door.

"Does that mean I'm invited to lasagna night?" he called after the other man.

"That's tomorrow and not a chance in hell, Oliver. Get a shower and get ready, I'll call Lyla to let her know I'll be home a bit later, raid your cellar for that bottle and bring the car around in 20." With that he was gone.

* * *

"It is not that funny!"

"Are you kidding me? It's hilarious! And I thought the babble before introductions was good!" Sara offered in between breaths doubled over from laughter and holding her middle with one arm. "I mean Roy told me you were really doing a number out there in the garage when he came into the office but I didn't think it was that bad! I would've paid to see it!"

"And just for that I'm not going to sign your cast, missy!"

"You already did!"

"You're right." After a moment of thought she huffed in annoyance. "Either way. It doesn't matter."

"What do you mean it doesn't matter?" Sara asked turning at the waist to look at her friend a bit better, while keeping her foot propped up on a pillow a top the coffee table. "And was this the reason why you were so focused on not only removing all evidence of the rescue from traffic and security cams but also taking care of the garage footage? Don't think I didn't notice that one, Miss sneaky. I was Oracle that day I noticed everything!"

"Wasn't Nyssa supposed to pick you up 10 minutes ago?" Felicity replied swiping at something on her table, trying to decide on a menu for the take out she'd be ordering after her friend left.

Tonight she had a date with her Netflix account, a certain hot archer super hero and really good food that was probably really bad for her waistline.

"Oh no, no dodging." The blonde with the canary yellow cast on her foot said at once. "Spill."

Tilting her head back so it rested on the back of the couch Felicity groaned.

"What's the point, Sara? Really?" she asked "The man was remarkably good looking and made interesting things to my insides when he smiled and said my name BUT the chances of me running into him ever again are like None. Nada. Nope. So what is the point? Yes, he was hot and the eyes…oh the eyes… but No. I am not going to go there."

"Oh my god, you like Ollie!" Sara exclaimed gleefully "I can't believe it. You've never said that stuff about any other client."

"And I am saying it to you in complete secrecy so if you repeat it I will deny deny deny!" her left hand waving in the air every time she said the word 'deny' as punctuation.

"It's just funny. It's a small world, you know? I used to hang in the same circle with Ollie and Tommy when I was younger. He dated Laurel for a while but then the whole thing with his dad happened…"

"Something else I mentioned during my babble in the garage. I swear I have never wanted the ground to swallow me whole as badly as I did then."

The doorbell chose that moment to go off and Felicity stood from the couch to answer it. Thinking it was Nyssa she didn't give a second thought about the Tardis pattern on her PJ pants, her World of Warcraft tank top with a huge Horde sign emblazoned in the middle of her chest or the messy bun on top of her head.

"Nyssa!" She said happily as she swung the door open without looking through the peephole which was her biggest mistake.

Not only was Nyssa there but she was accompanied by an amused looking John Diggle and none other than Oliver Queen. And how was life fair when he looked that good in a brown leather jacket, a light blue Henley peeking from below it, jeans and boots? Easy, it wasn't. Life was totally not fair. Especially when her eyes found their way back up to his and she knew she'd been caught checking him out.

"And company." Digg offered with a grin.

Her cheeks were suddenly blazing hot, the blush spreading like wild fire down her neck and Sara's snickering in the background did nothing for her mood. But it was hard to be mad when you had Oliver Queen standing in front of your doorway with a small grin adorning his beautifully shaped lips and mirth shinning in his blue eyes.

"Oh Frack."


	3. Chapter 3

It took 20 minutes for pleasantries. Hello's, how are you's, long time no see's and introductions were made in her living room while Felicity remained by the door. The door's handle being one of the two things she was accepting as 'real' at the moment; the second being the bottle of wine on her other hand. Because there was no way that she was dressed in her PJs, in her living room, watching none other than Oliver Queen greet a friend/former almost flame and her longtime girlfriend. There was no way that the man that she loved like a brother had brought HIM to her home when it had been evident that her big brother was not very keen on the looks the man had given her just two days ago at the garage. And there was no freaking way they had brought with them an extremely expensive, extremely coveted by her, bottle of wine with them. Which they had presented to her as payment for passage into her domain and she was now holding. It was just not happening. It couldn't! But it was. Apparently…

How on google earth was this her life?!

"A parkour accident then?" Oliver was asking Sara who was getting her crutches from the side of the couch with the help of Nyssa.

"Yeah, no big deal though. I just have to wear the cast for another week and then I'll be up and running in no time. You should totally try it, Ollie. Risks of bone breaking aside it's very liberating."

"I think with the way things are right now parkour would be the least of my worries for bone breaking prospects." He had the decency to look a bit bashful with his reply, rubbing the back of his head while smiling slightly.

"Yeah, maybe once the angry mobs stop chasing you and all." Sara offered once she had a secure hold on her crutches. "Though it could come in handy while trying to escape them."

With Nyssa by her side she turned her attention to Felicity, a Cheshire grin on her face. And Google did she dread whatever her best friend might have on her brain right at that moment. The look was a mixture of 'speak of the devil' and 'look what the cat dragged in'. Thankfully the other blonde kept her scheming to herself while making her way slowly towards the door.

"It was a pleasure to meet you, Oliver Queen." Nyssa offered simply with a nod of her head before following her girlfriend.

"Likewise."

"Are we still up for tomorrow?" she asked Felicity with a slight smile.

"Lasagna night, we're on. Don't forget to bring the salad." Felicity offered, opening the door for her friends. When Sara was close enough she gave her a one arm hug, to not mess up with her crutches and muttered "Not a word."

Cone of silence rules had to be respected, after all.

"Fine." The blonde responded with a roll of her eyes before looking back over her shoulder. "Good to see you again, Ollie. Maybe next time we can get together without the threat of you being lynched."

"I'd like that." The man replied with another easy smile "Maybe I can take you and Nyssa both to lunch and you can tell me more about your time backpacking through Europe."

"It's a deal." Sara said with a winning smile, showing her dimples before heading out the door, followed by her gorgeous brunette better half.

After the door was closed Felicity turned to face the two men inside her townhome. Diggle had made himself comfortable on her couch, his long arms resting at the back of it almost covering the whole expanse of it while Oliver Queen stood stock still by her coffee table, in front of her purple love seat, looking at her with an almost sheepish expression.

"Ooookay." She said moving away from the door towards the kitchen. "Not to sound rude or anything but what are you guys doing here?"

"We need your help." Oliver answered at once. "I was talking with Digg earlier and some things simply don't add up about the attack two days ago."

Reaching the kitchen Felicity left the wine bottle on her kitchen counter, inwardly hating the fact that she had to part ways with such a thing of beauty, before facing the man again.

"We were thinking it was odd for such a crowd to have formed in the amount of time that Oliver spent in the building without having previous notice of the visit." Digg explained.

"You think there was a leak." She offered motioning with her hand for Oliver to take a seat, which he did after removing his jacket and placing it on the back of her couch and holy mother of google he looked good perched on her love seat. Shaking her head to dislodge that though she moved to sit on the arm of the couch occupied by Diggle, folding her left arm across her chest she propped her right on it and tapped her lips with the forefinger of her right hand. "It's a possibility. How long was the meeting?"

"The meeting was supposed to last about an hour." Oliver answered, his gaze never wavering from hers.

"We were only on site for 25 minutes. When one of our guys noticed the people gathering we decided to cut the whole thing short." Digg interjected "By the time the meeting was wrapped up and we were ready to move him things were out of hand. We had five guys on detail with way too many people to handle."

"And that's when you called me." She offered.

"That's when I called you."

"We think it was leaked either from the law firm or in house. Which is why we are here." Oliver offered "Digg says that you're the best at what you do and we could use a few answers."

"Well I am. It's not bragging if it's true, just saying." She offered getting up from the arm of the couch heading for the hallway that led to her bedroom. "So, since my date with Netflix has been officially thwarted I will get changed and then we can make our way to Mr. Wizard's. Give me five minutes."

With their impromptu host gone Oliver stood from the purple love seat and paid some attention to the surroundings. The Robin Hood poster behind the TV made him smile; leave it to Felicity, the girl with the green motorcycle, the green leathers and penchant to get people out of tight situations to have a poster of a bandit that stole from the rich and gave to the poor; A hero to those in need.

"Mr. Wizard's?" Oliver asked after a moment standing before her book cases, running his fingertips over the spines of some of the books there.

"Mr. Wizard was Felicity's mentor. The building that holds the offices and garage for Arrow Security is his. It's home base for all missions and for some of us it's home away from home. He set up the company, mainly as a bodyguard service as well as transportation for special events but over the years it evolved. At one point or another need for bodyguards escalated to needing to extract clients out of tough spots so he decided a less than ordinary approach was needed to take on those jobs." Diggle answered with a shrug "He handpicked three people of his staff to be Specialists. Their sole purpose was to get in, pick up whoever from wherever and whatever situation and get out, getting them to safety. Since that part of the job is less than legal, most of the time, he took on the code name Mr. Wizard so that the legal part of the business wasn't affected if the name ever came to light."

"Why Mr. Wizard though?"

"He told me he borrowed it from the first Matrix movie." Digg offered and then snorted when Oliver didn't recognize the reference judging by the blank expression on the younger man's face. "So the guy in the movie, the main guy, is running down the street or an alley I'm not entirely sure, he's trying to escape from the agents and has grabbed a phone from someone. He dials the ship where the humans are and tells the operator…"

"Mr. Wizard! Get me the hell out of here!" Felicity finished the sentence while walking into the room once more, fixing her hair into a no-nonsense ponytail high up on the back of her head. "I still think it's one of the best lines in the whole movie. Are we ready to go then?"

With her blue jeans, pink converse sneakers and cream colored sweater with multicolored tiny flowers as a print; a sweater which left a shoulder bare, except for the thin strap of a tank top underneath it, and her bright fuchsia lips she was as much a splash of color as she was the picture of comfort. And damn if it didn't look good on her. The get up was simple enough and even though she was completely covered and it was utterly modest that slight show of shoulder made Oliver's mouth water. As far as he knew comfort and sexy usually did not go on the same sentence, unless one was naked, but they did when it came to her. She was a mixture of beauty, practicality and effortless sex appeal as she walked past the couch and towards the door to pick up her purse as well as a tablet that had been charging on the table by the entrance.

"When we get to Mr. Wizard's we can set up a plan for the searches. See what we find. I'm thinking we should start with most social media sites though." She added, her mind already going a mile a second, trying to decipher the puzzle before her. "Even super evil secret plans to lynch someone can be brought down by an over eager idiot blabbing about it at a website. And if anyone blabbed I can totally track them."

The lair, as Felicity had called her computer room at Mr. Wizard's when they first entered it, was quite imposing. With the humming of several computers going at once as well as a few servers and multiple screens all showing different programs running in what seemed perfect chaos. He was certain that he had never seen a computer set up quite like Felicity's, the only comparison being QC's IT server rooms and that was saying a lot considering QC was a multibillion company while Arrow Security was for all intents and purposes small yet mighty. Having been thoroughly warned of how protective she was of her babies Oliver had opted to sit by her side a bit lost and confused while the blonde genius typed away steadily at her keyboard.

Digg stood leaning against the door frame texting from his phone, quite possibly explaining the situation to Lyla, his presence looming enough from a few feet away that Oliver tried to remain on his best behavior. The little distance did leave him and Felicity in a small bubble of privacy without truly being alone. It was a dilemma. He really didn't want to piss off his friend yet the blonde next to him was tempting. She was all bright lipstick, colors, glasses and sass and he  _liked_  it.

"Just so we are clear, this never happened." Her words brought him back to the present forcing him to give her a confused look.

She had turned her computer chair to look at him, her knees almost bumping his leg when the chair swiveled at her command. His furrowed brow brought a bit of a smile to her lips but she continued her explanation. Those lips of hers were going to haunt him at night…he was sure of it.

"This whole night, from the exchange of wine bottle up to the moment that we part ways. More importantly you are not seeing me do any of this. For all intents and purposes I never left my home, I had a date with a hot fictional archer on Netflix and ate take out in my jammies followed by copious amounts of mint chip ice cream." She explained before turning her chair and attention back towards her desk and her eyes landed on one of her many screens where a long line of code was scrolling.

"Considering I am very much lost as to what exactly you are doing, it shouldn't be too difficult for me to feign ignorance in the matter should we need it." He agreed with a huffed chuckle. "A hot fictional archer? Really?"

"Is that judgement I'm hearing?" she asked

"Not at all. Though archery seems a bit silly."

"Good. My lair, my rules, there's no getting judgy over my TV choices. It's a house rule of mine. And yes, I know, it's a totally medieval sort of weapon but still, there is something incredibly hot about that leather wearing bow wielding hero. What can I say? The fangirl-ing heart wants what the fangirl-ing heart wants." She let out a dreamy sigh that made knots form in his stomach.

He wondered how she'd sound saying his name with that same tone in her voice.

"Don't even get me started on my fandoms, ships and OTP's or else we won't leave this room until you are thoroughly educated by yours truly and that education could take at least a few hours. Maybe more depending if you're a good student." She offered too engrossed on her screens to paying him a second glance as she spoke.

The urge to groan out loud at her slip of the tongue was tamped down with what was almost superhuman effort on his part. But there was nothing that could keep his eyebrows from lifting and almost disappearing into his hair line out of surprise. The iron clad hold on any other of his reactions wavered dangerously for a second; he wasn't sure if he wanted to bark out a laugh or grab her from her computer chair and kiss her senseless to see what those unfiltered lips of hers tasted like.

Instead he waited…

And waited…

And waited…

He was rewarded.

It was truly a marvel to see the exact moment when her brain caught up with her mouth. He couldn't help it then, he grinned, the motion blooming into a full-fledged smile that reached his eyes. The blush started at her cheeks and expanded, so hard and overpowering it even pinked the tips of her ears as she sat there, her fingers frozen away from the keyboard and her eyes closed tight. He heard as she took a deep breath and counted back out loud.

"3,2,1. There is no way to fix that one. None. At. All." She murmured with a long exhale before reopening her eyes and beginning to type again. "Anyway! As for the less embarrassing part of the conversation, that's good because what I am doing, that you are most definitely not seeing, is illegal." She said and then hesitated for a moment then turned to him again, tilting her head to the side "Huh. I just realized, ever since I met you two days ago I have more than exceeded my hacking quota for the week. And that is saying a LOT considering that I'm a hacker who hates mysteries."

"Hates mysteries but loves leather wearing archers." He quipped smirking. Anything to keep the blush on her cheeks flaming a little longer.

"Yes! To both the hating mysteries and the leather wearing archers and no I feel no shame in that admittance… Ok maybe a little bit on the leather thing. Not that I like leather, not like that anyways. It's really more of an 'I see the benefits of leather as in clothing for riding' situation… Motorcycle riding! I meant motorcycle riding not any other kind of riding of the sexual kind. Obviously, you know that, you saw my leathers the day we met so you know they're not the kinky kind of leathers or fetish, no whips or anything and oh I cannot have a serious conversation with you without digging myself into a hole."

Covering her face with her hands she shook her head and then peeked through her fingers to look at him. She found him smiling.

"You really need to stop doing that." She mumbled into her hands.

He huffed another chuckle shaking his head for a moment.

"I'd say I'm sorry but…"

"Yes, yes, the babble is entertaining until I die of embarrassment. Then who's going to help you find that possible leak? Hmm?" she sassed

"Breathe, Felicity." Digg, always the voice of reason, called from the doorway sounding a bit bored but always alert.

"Fine. You," she poked Oliver on the shoulder "Stop making me flustered and there'll be no worries. We will get you some answers and then you can let go of the broody face, Mr. Queen."

"Oliver." He corrected leaning back on his chair, a tired smile on his lips, his arms folded over his chest while he looked at her. "And I don't brood."

"Ah, yes. Oliver." She conceded with a roll of her eyes before smiling at him for a fleeting moment before refocusing on her computers. "I forgot. You Oliver, Me Felicity and Mr. Queen was your father but this time around I will not go on another babble about all that. No, sir. Not happening. But yes, you brood, you have a whole lot of brooding going on when you think no one is watching. Behind the 'I'm in front of the camera's' smile. That doesn't mean that people can't see it though. At least I can… not that my opinion matters too much I just mean that I can. Takes one to know one I guess." Shaking her head she typed a few more commands onto the keyboard and then stretched her arms over her head. "All right, I've put searches in place on most commonly used social media sites as well as some obscure ones that I know, now we let my babies do their job and find me a lead."

When she turned to look at him after stretching she found him smiling again, a tiny smile that made his eyes sparkle as he studied her. And the weight of his gaze made her want to squirm a bit on her seat. There was sadness behind those blue eyes but also interest. What had she said in the last two minutes that was making him look at her like that? That she was entertaining she understood but this… This was new.

"What? What's with the look?" she asked quirking an eyebrow.

"The first day we met I asked Digg if you were always like this." He admitted.

"Like this?" she asked her brow furrowing in a cute look of confusion "Like what? I don't follow. And that's really hard for me to admit because I have an IQ of 155 which equals to genius levels."

"Remarkable." Was the immediate answer a twinkle in his eye showing the sincerity behind the reply. "I don't think I've ever met someone quite like you, Felicity Smoak."

And wasn't that the truth?

He was so used to all the masks he wore. To keeping up the appearances for the sake of what people would say. So conditioned to the fake interactions of high society that this woman, who had no brain to mouth filter, who took on a cause just because the man she loved as a brother bribed her with wine, who blushed freely and smiled brightly, threw him for a loop. And it lifted the burden that he'd been feeling since his father's death just a little. No, he wasn't going back to reckless Ollie but he could feel a bit of light within, burning; without even trying she brought out the carefree feeling that he'd lost and he could joke and tease again. A glimmer of the innocence that had been taken from him by loss seemed to shimmer in her presence while at the same time she was tempting him with less than innocent thoughts just by being there.

A few beats of silence passed between them then and she turned to look at her screens once more hoping that he had not caught the fire engine red hot blush spreading on her cheeks and down her neck. If this was Oliver Queen's charm the weight of it could be overpowering, and she was sure he wasn't even trying. With great power came great responsibility indeed! He could become Overlord ruler of Starling if he put in the charm full force!

"How long are these searches gonna take?" Digg's voice cut through the room, and the tension, like a blessing; his big body wedging itself between Felicity and Oliver, his hands resting on the edge of the desk as he looked at the screens.

After clearing her throat, which had gone unbelievably dry at the unexpected compliment Felicity replied. "I'd give it a few hours. I should have some answers by tomorrow morning if anything was posted in social media. If not then I'll do some digging on the legal team while you guys figure out how to get me access to your security detail without raising any suspicions."

"That should be good enough to get us started." Digg agreed giving Felicity a kiss on the temple before turning to look at his friend and boss. "I gotta get home to Lyla."

"I'll take one of the cars here, that way you don't have to waste more time on a trip to drop me off." Felicity offered quickly.

Because there was no way that she was riding back home with them. No. Way. She needed to regroup and fast if she was going to work with these two. Diggle was not a problem at all, but Oliver… Oliver was a pretty pretty problem that she did not want to get tangled with… though the mental image of them tangling was rather interesting in her mind's eye for like a second.

"I'll drop you off then, man." Diggle said with a nod towards the blonde girl before heading for the door.

"Of course."

Oliver waited a beat before standing from the chair he'd occupied turning to look at Felicity as she stood as well he smiled warmly at her

"I just realized I didn't thank you for two days ago." He said

"Oh, well, it was nothing." She offered with a dismissive wave of her hand "Big bro needed help, I was happy to give it."

"Still," He said placing his hand on her shoulder, having enough sense to touch her on the covered one or else he'd really get an earful from Digg on the way home. "Thank you, Felicity."

"You're welcome, Oliver." She replied in auto pilot, feeling the blush creep back to her cheeks before moving towards the door herself. She needed to get away from the handsome Billionare pronto! "If anything comes up on those searches I will call Digg first thing in the morning for an update."

He knew a dismissal when he heard one but he wasn't entirely deterred. Oliver wasn't sure if she was trying to save him from her overprotective big brother, from the look that Digg was giving him or just getting herself out of an uncomfortable situation, though it could have easily been both. There was something there, whenever he locked eyes with Felicity Smoak and he was going to figure it out, even if it meant getting well acquainted with the mats on his home gym thanks to his bodyguard.

She walked them both back to the Bentley out in the garage and after giving the big man a hug goodbye she turned towards the younger man with a sheepish grin.

"Just try to stay out of trouble while we figure this out?"

"If it's you asking, I'll try to." He answered with a grin and before she could do anything to stop him, before he could think better of it, he leaned down and kissed her on the cheek. "Good night Felicity and thank you." Then he had turned on his heel and was gone, getting into the backseat of the car, not caring at all at the way that Digg scowled at him before he climbed in.

"So much trouble…So so soooo much trouble." She muttered to herself, heading back to her babies to check on her searches.


	4. Chapter 4

There are certain phrases that are usually accompanied by a butt load of bad news and a whole lot of suck. Things like 'we need to talk' coming from a significant other or 'the next 24 hours are critical to his/her condition' from a doctor, regarding a loved one. 'Don't freak out but…' being another fan favorite, NOT. Its phrases like that that make the adrenaline spike immediately in someone's veins, the fight or flight instinct kicking into overdrive along with other parts of the brain; solutions to the upcoming problem already bubbling to the surface along with the hope that there'll be a chance, that there'll be enough time to put those solutions into effect. To at least have a chance…

For Felicity the phrase that made both her blood run cold and her brain burst into overdrive came that Friday night, just a few minutes after midnight while she was checking on her searches at her lair.

"Hey boss lady." Roy's voice came distorted through the line due to the thumping club music she could hear in the background. "I think I just ran into a situation."

Those two sentences coming from Roy were the very definition of bad news. First, with Roy, whenever the setting was casual he never called her boss lady, not even in jest. That on itself sent red flags waving in her head and spoke volumes of urgency. Blondie. Barbie. Yes, mom (whenever he was trying to annoy her). Those were usual monikers that he had for her. Except for when in a professional setting…or when shit was going to hit the fan HARD.

"Where are you? Are you Ok?"

"I'm fine." His reply made her release a breath she didn't know she was holding "It's not me I'm worried about." He replied "I'm at Verdant."

Verdant? The uber popular nightclub co-owned by Queen and Merlyn? What in the world was he doing there?

"My friend Ian is having a 'sayonara' get together on his last night in Starling cuz he's getting deployed tomorrow so I dropped by for a drink before heading home. I caught wind of something going on behind the scenes tonight. You remember that VIP pick up you had two days ago? Well, it has to do with his little sister."

All at once her world seemed to both slow down and speed up. This was bad. Very VERY bad. She might not have spent much time with Oliver Queen during their acquaintance but something told her that he would not be thrilled to know his little sister was in present danger.

"How bad is it?" she asked

"Let's just say I heard the words 'snatch the princess' and 'Queen bitch' on the same sentence. And since she's the only Queen I've seen here tonight I'm thinking they're hoping for a quick grab and go."

"Ok…Not good at all." She offered pinching the bridge of her nose below her glasses for a moment, giving herself a second to think. "Do you have eyes on her right now? Does she have a detail on her right now?"

"Yeah, boss, I've got eyes on her. She's got a detail of two. Body #1 has been sneaking drinks for a while, if I know my 'hide the fact in using the wall to keep from swaying' technique and Body #2 is somewhat distracted by a hot waitress at the moment."

"Shit. Ok. Roy, I'm going to make a call. Keep your eyes on her but don't engage unless necessary. I'll get back to you ASAP."

"Copy that."

Hanging up the phone Felicity didn't even bother to swipe the screen to get to her contacts, instead she hit her speed dial button for Diggle and waited, impatiently. It took him exactly three rings before he picked up with a groan.

"Felicity?" His voice was heavy from sleep and for a moment she felt really guilty that she had woken him up, considering he was just getting into the whole swing of sleeping through the nights once more after the birth of his daughter.

"Digg. We have a problem."

It was half past midnight when the phone vibrated over the surface of his desk, the name Diggle flashing on the screen as he reached over to pick up the device while settling some QC papers on the mahogany desk. That call would send his night to hell…

"Diggle?"

"Oliver, listen to me very carefully and don't lose your head. There's a situation brewing at Verdant."

Verdant. A hundred and one bad scenarios flashed through his mind in one single moment. The most important though being Thea. Thea was at Verdant tonight, helping with the management of the club. Thea was in danger. No. This couldn't be happening.

"Oliver?" Diggle's voice brought him back from the brink of seeing red.

"I'm on my way."

"No, Oliver. Here's where the 'don't lose your head' part of that sentence comes in, man." His friend said at once.

"But Thea…"

"I know, she's at Verdant. Lucky for you, so is Roy."

"Roy? Who the hell is Roy? He's not one of ours. And where the hell are her bodyguards?!" He had already gotten up and was leaving the study, dead set on getting to his sister.

"No, he's not one of ours. Roy's one of Felicity's." he explained quickly "He called her about this and that's why I'm calling you. You need to call Thea. Tell her to leave with Roy, his code name is Arsenal, he's on standby right now keeping an eye on her. He'll use the code name when he greets her so she'll know to trust him. Tell her to slip the detail; god knows you two have a god given talent for doing that. With them still there it won't be obvious that she's left. We'll deal with our guys later, Oliver but for now we let Roy get her out of there and to you, at the mansion. You wait for them there. As soon as we hang up I'll call Felicity to give Roy the go ahead to approach."

With anxiety thrumming through his body Oliver paced the foyer as he listened, his grip on the phone almost to the point of cracking the screen. Part of him was eager to get out of the house and get to the club as soon as possible. The other part, the logical part, knew that his presence there would probably make things worse.

"I'll call her now."

After ending the call he dialed his sister immediately and was relieved when she answered.

"Hey Ollie!" she sounded so happy and carefree "You would not believe how packed the club is tonight! I guess people don't really care that much that our parents were total ass…"

"Thea! I need you to pay attention." He cut her off. "Get someone to close up the club for you tonight."

"What? Why?"

"It's important, Speedy, I wouldn't ask you if it wasn't. I didn't get details but you have to trust me. Ok? There's a guy that'll approach you, he's going to give you a code. The code is Arsenal. Ditch your security detail and leave with him. He'll bring you home. Do you understand?"

"Ollie, you're not making any sense!"

"Thea, don't argue with me on this. Just do it, Ok?"

There was silence on her part for a long beat, the music of the club being all he heard on the background making him uneasy.

"Ok. Fine, but you owe me a new pair of shoes."

"If you do this without asking questions till you get here I'll buy you three pairs." He replied sounding relieved "Just remember. The code is Arsenal, the name is Roy."

"Got it and I'll hold you to that. Now, I have to go and get someone to agree to close for the night."

And with that she was gone from the line, leaving Oliver to pace like a caged lion in the foyer of the mansion.

Diggle arrived fifteen minutes later at the Queen mansion to find Oliver at the foyer, waiting impatiently for his sister.

"Felicity called me with an update. They left Verdant through side door without any problems and should be arriving any minute now."

Before he could say anything else there was the sound of a motorbike on the driveway and Oliver was out the door in time to see the red motorcycle he'd seen back on the garage at Mr. Wizard's stop close to the door and Thea hop down with ease, even though she was wearing a short teal dress and sky high high heels. Leaving the helmet she'd been wearing on the backseat of the bike she turned to face her brother, ready for explanations but was interrupted by Oliver engulfing her in a tight hug.

"Are you ok?"

"Ollie! I'm fine!" she cried out sounding exasperated though she did hug him back for a moment before pulling back. "Can I ask why I got pulled from the club now?"

"Maybe we can do this inside?" Diggle offered from the door.

The Queen duo started for the door, followed by Roy who had dismounted the motorcycle and was holding to his helmet as if his life depended on it.

"I know your last name is Queen but did you have to have a castle? Like an honest to God for real castle?" He asked nodding a greeting towards Digg once they were all in the foyer.

"It's actually a rental." Thea quipped sarcastically turning to face Roy again.

"Ah, very funny princess." He offered dryly placing the motorcycle helmet below his arm while extending the other towards Oliver. "Roy Harper."

"Oliver Queen." He replied instantly shaking Roy's hand.

Even though they hadn't been introduced before Oliver remembered him from the garage at Arrow Security. He'd made the comment about Felicity's babbling, good naturedly of course and the blonde had mock glared at him before he'd disappeared through a door at the back. Their interaction had been short but Oliver never forgot a face and now he owed the young man for his assist. He wore the same red hoodie from days before and a small grin that spoke volumes of him being able to dish and take as well as his sister could hand out sass.

"So…anyone care to explain to me why I got dragged out of work by a stranger?" Thea asked, hands on hips.

"Roy?" Digg prompted

"I didn't hear a please in that statement but sure, whatever." Roy offered with a shrug. "I was at Verdant with some friends. We stepped outside for a smoke…"

"A smoke?" Digg asked with a quirked eyebrow.

"Yeah, yeah, I know, filthy habit, yada yada. Don't tell Felicity, 'k Digg? She'll kill me if she finds out I started again." The boy almost pleaded at the last part before continuing, scratching the back of his head looking somewhat sheepish. "Anyways, coming back in I overheard some guys talking about 'snatching the princess' because they missed their first chance at a Queen. After the removal a few days ago that made me perk my years, you know? They said and I quote 'that Queen bitch should've stayed out of Glades.' And something or other about their information being good and about her being on their turf and how they were going to give her a lesson." He offered "I noticed them because; to be honest they looked more like me than they did your average Verdant goer so since they stuck out like a sore thumb I paid attention. Glad I did or else, well, you guys know there's a lot of disgruntled Gladers out there looking for a little payback."

"Oh my god." Thea's voice was barely a whisper, her eyes wide with fear and understanding of how bad things could have turned out.

"So you called Felicity." Oliver said wrapping one of his arms around Thea's shoulders in comfort as she melted onto his side, wrapping her arms about his waist.

"Yep. Called Blondie right after and she got the ball rolling from there." Roy replied with a nod. "I figured after she got your hide out of the hot seat a few days back so she'd probably want to keep princess here safe too. She's a softy like that."

Diggle's phone started ringing then interrupting the conversation, when he looked at it he grinned.

"Speak of the devil." He offered hitting the accept button before hitting the speaker phone option.

"Digg?"

"Hey, Felicity, You're on speaker phone." Diggle warned knowingly. Better to try and keep her from one of her babbles if possible, though he was sure that the efforts would be in vain.

"Oh… Um. Ok…That's perfectly fine. Hello all on that side of the line. Everyone in one piece?" she asked

"Hey Blondie." Roy replied. "We're all good on this side. The princess is a bit shaken but aside from that she should be ok."

"Oliver, someone needs to get that girl a pint of her favorite ice cream like stat. Anything can be truly processed with the right kind and amount of ice cream. I'd say wine but I don't know if she's legal to drink yet." the animated voice on the phone said. "Oh and Roy, head back to Verdant. See if the perps are still there and if they are I want you to swipe the phone off of one of those creepers. I want to see what I can find in it. Don't worry Miss Queen, if it's linked to their phone I'll look so hard into their identity their ancestors will question their choices."

"You can do that?" Thea asked curiously, glancing between the phone and the men around her. Who was this 'Felicity'?

"Technically you did not hear any of that from me, but truthfully? If Roy can get me one of those phones and there's something in there I can do a LOT of things."

"Remind me never to piss you off, Blondie." Roy offered with a shudder and a nod towards the siblings. "Boss's orders. Gotta run." He clapped Diggle on the shoulder while moving towards the door and disappearing out into the night.

"Digg, I will call you tomorrow morning with an update for those searches. Good night Oliver, Miss Queen."

"Good night, Felicity." Diggle offered

"And thank you Felicity." Oliver added, giving Thea's shoulder a squeeze, to reassure both himself and her that things were all right.

"Yes, thank you." She offered simply, still a bit shell shocked about the whole situation.

"Oh, no worries; My pleasure. Not that you almost getting kidnapped was a pleasurable experience. It wasn't, obviously. That's not it at all…I'm just gonna stop talking now before I dig myself into a hole. Night!"

Even after the hellish night Oliver couldn't help but laugh at Felicity's faux pas on the phone.

"I'm not really sure who that was but I think I like her." Thea offered, giving her brother a squeeze in return before untangling herself from him "I am definitely getting that ice cream."

"I think I'll join you." Oliver offered at once. "Digg, can you make the call and get Thea's security detail back here?"

"I will. I'll tell them of the extraction and instruct them to stick around Verdant for another hour, let Roy have a go at getting the phone off of those guys if they are still there."

"Thank you Diggle." Oliver said, giving the man a meaningful look before escorting his little sister towards the kitchen.

"So… Ollie, who is this Felicity exactly?"

The question came while they were sitting across from each other at the breakfast nook they usually used while eating their breakfast with Raisa when they were little, sharing a pint of rocky road ice cream straight from the container, their spoons digging deep with each bite.

"Well. Felicity is Diggle's friend, like a little sister to him." He answered

"Okaaaay but how do you know her? Cuz she called me Miss Queen on the phone but she called you Oliver."

"You know what happened two days ago." He offered and when she nodded Oliver continued "Diggle called her for assistance in getting me out of trouble. She was the green rider that got me out of there. She runs a small company called Arrow Security. Diggle worked with her and so do Roy and Sara."

"Whoa. Hold on for a sec." Thea said setting her spoon down "Let me get this straight. She's the green rider? The one that got you out and the police didn't get any footage of? And she pretty much set up my rescue from offsite tonight and promised to do some sort of magic based off of a bad guys phone?"

"Yeah." Oliver answered with a nod, a little wistful smile tugging on his lips "Diggle says she's the best at what she does and from what I've seen I'm inclined to agree."

"Huh."

"What do you mean huh?"

"Nothing!" Thea offered quickly with a grin, getting a big spoonful of ice cream and taking her time savoring it, giving her brother a knowing look.

"Speedy…"

"Fine. But don't say I didn't warn you. It's just that when you get the heart eyes thing going it's usually for some leggy model and not someone that could ruin you with a few clicks of a computer keyboard but you had some serious heart eyes going while she was on the phone. And that little smile at the end. Priceless!"

"Thea… I do not do heart eyes. Not at Felicity or anyone." Oliver said defensively.

"Of course you do!" she replied "I remember when I was little and you were first dating Laurel, you totally had heart eyes then. I haven't seen it in a while though… this Felicity must be special." She offered and then pointed at him with her spoon. "If you don't ask her to dinner after all this dangerous stuff is done with I'm totally disowning you and adopting Tommy as my brother. You got that?"

"I got it." He said with a shake of his head and a chuckle "I just need to find a way to get past Diggle on this one."

"The former playboy billionaire getting the big brother, his bodyguard and friend, on board for dating the woman he considers his little sister? Yeah, good luck with that one. Make sure you leave a will with specific funerary arrangements, Ollie. I'd hate to get the wrong color for your casket." She quipped with a grin.

"Gee, thanks, Thea."

"No problem." She replied "Now, about those shoes…"


	5. Chapter 5

"I have seen that face before."

It was Nyssa's voice that pulled Felicity from her musings. Sitting out in the small patio behind her town-home nursing a glass of iced tea Felicity had taken a breather after they'd finish their lasagna night dinner and of course once alone, while Sara and Roy duked it out for Playstation 4 supremacy in the living room much to Lyla and Digg's amusement, her thoughts had ran away from her regarding the ongoing puzzle that had unceremoniously landed on her lap a few days ago. Since then it only seemed to become more and more complex.

"What face?" the blonde asked as the brunette leaned against the railing pinning her with her dark and knowing gaze.

"The face you make when there is something going on in that brain of yours. Something you need to untangle." Nyssa answered "What is on your mind إشراق?

She couldn't help but smile a little towards her friend. To others Nyssa was this imposing figure that lacked warmth whose presence was far more intimidating than her size should've allowed. But thanks to Sara Felicity and Nyssa had become unlikely friends from the get go. Where Nyssa seemed cold, Felicity was warm. While Nyssa was serious and to the point, Felicity was somewhat goofy and rambled; their minds, surprisingly, were very much alike. Both of them being analytical and basing themselves mostly on logic and probability.

"I know I shouldn't be thinking about it, since its lasagna night and all but there is something that is bothering me about all this and you know how I am about mysteries." Felicity admitted setting down her glass on the table next to her and picking at the nail polish on her thumb, a bright shade of coral that she intended to get rid of that night for a different shade.

"Tell me."

"It just… it feels like there's more to this." She offered shaking her head "To me, to us, this started when John asked for help, when I picked up Oliver and got him away from that mob a few days ago. But something doesn't add up." She said "So far we've been under the impression that all of this has to do with people being angry with those who took part of the Undertaking and taking it out on their children because the real culprits are behind bars now, but do you know what I found out when I did a search earlier? There's only been reported attacks on three of the 'tainted heirs', which is what the press is calling them. Can you say lame? They could at least be a bit more creative in their nicknames to those left behind by psychotic parents but I digress. The real question is why only a few attacks or attempts when there were dozens of people that made the list as accomplices and as many heirs to those people?"

The brunette's thoughtful expression was followed by silence as she digested the words.

"What do all three have in common?"

The words were simple enough and yet it made Felicity's brain screech to a halt. Like the white noise that had been going on in the attic all of the sudden came to a stop leaving only silence. As usual, Nyssa with her to the point personality had hit the nail in the head. Sure, all heirs had their parents doings in common but what about the three that had been attacked? Shooting to her feet she grabbed Nyssa by the shoulders and gave her a resounding kiss on the cheek

"I swear if I swung your way and you weren't with Sara I'd fall madly in love with you!"

"No one would blame you, إشراق." Nyssa answered with a knowing smirk.

"I need to get to Mr. Wizards." Felicity muttered to herself already heading into the town-home when she was stopped by a pair of warm hands on her shoulders from behind.

"I do not think so. Gather your thoughts for now, sunshine. It is lasagna night. No matter the importance I highly doubt you would leave your electronics at the mercy of my كناري and Roy." Nyssa reminded her.

"You're right."

With the possibilities of new information bouncing around in her brain a bit more organized than they were before both women made it into the home. The brunette to watch her girlfriend play her way to victory while the blonde took some 'me' time to play with her god daughter before the little girl fell asleep placidly on her god mother's arms.

When Monday morning came around Felicity was already main lining coffee as form of survival. She'd been at Mr. Wizard's since the predawn hours, having only abandoned her trusty computers to take a nap on the couch at her office while some of her searches ran a bit deeper than before. She had found some evidence in social media on Oliver's attack, which she had informed John about, but those breadcrumbs had led nowhere so now she was focusing on finding what the three attacks had in common, hoping that it'd shed some light on the bigger picture from yet another angle since the perps from Verdant had left before Roy could snatch at least one of their phones.

The three targets were all very similar; all of them were offspring of people that were linked to the Undertaking and were now attempting to salvage the companies that their parents had set up before them, with different levels of success. The companies themselves were all different, their products ranging from technology to pharmaceuticals, but they had one thing in common. They had been quite successful before the spot light had been shone on their CEO's, or former founders, exposing the skeletons in their closets.

Waking up from her nap Felicity decided that maybe some running would do her mind some good. She wasn't a firm believer of the 'runner's high' but there was something to be said about the state of mind that one could achieve when her foot falls and the treadmills belt going were the only two sounds to focus on. It could create a sense of simplicity that aided her when things in her brain got a bit too hectic. Hitting the locker room she changed into her usual work-out clothes; a dark grey tank top that boldly stated 'run like Batman is waiting at the finish line', electric purple running shorts and matching purple running shoes with shocking pink shoe laces; she was putting her hair up on a messy bun as she entered the gym when she came to a sudden stop at the door. The situation before her making her head tilt in confusion.

Laying on his back in the middle of the training mats looking up at Nyssa, who had a the tip of a Bo staff positioned just below his chin, with wide surprised eyes was none other than Oliver Queen.

"Your form is weak." Nyssa stated moving the staff away from his body and bending to pick up the one that he had more than likely dropped at some point during their bout. "You would benefit from more rigorous training."

The man in question got to his feet brushing his hands on his jeans, giving Felicity a good look at his back…his very naked, very yummy looking back and arms. Holy crap, how did those jeans hang so low on him and stay on?

What the hell..? Twilight zone moment maybe? Hmm...

"It is way too early for this to be happening to me." The blonde muttered to herself making her way towards the training mats. "Guys...What's going on?"

' _Ignore the shirtlessness. Ignore the shirtlessness. Ignore the shirtlessness_.' The mental mantra running on a loop in her head, she tried her best to keep her gaze trained on Nyssa as she put away the weapons but when her attempt failed and she looked at their guest she made sure that her eyes didn't stray any lower than his chin. There was NO way she was going to oogle his half naked goodness more than she had when standing at the door. No. Nope. No way. YAY for self control, Felicity!

"Felicity. Hey." He greeted with one of those side smiles of his that made butterflies flutter in her stomach. "Nyssa said you were resting so we decided to train for a bit while you woke up."

"He is in dire need of instruction on several areas." Nyssa supplied helpfully, handing him a towel.

Of course he would towel off his body right in front of her. But  **OF COURSE**! And she and her self-control? She was only human! It wasn't her fault that her eyes followed that towel with laser like focus for what seemed a delicious eternity. No her fault at all! The blush spreading over her cheeks threatening to reach nuclear proportions when he toweled off his well sculpted abs. Snapping her attention back to Nyssa, turning herself away from the man while counting backwards from 10 in her brain, she took a few steps towards her friend mouthing the numbers silently.

A quirked eyebrow being Nyssa's only reaction to the blonde's antics before regaining her stoic expression.

"Bo staff training? Isn't that a little bit advanced?" 'Unfair' being the real word that she wanted to use since Nyssa was well known for her mastery of several weapons including the Bo staff.

"He said he had some training and looked interested in the weapon. I thought it would be interesting to see what he thought he could accomplish with it."

"Hazing?"

"A little, perhaps." Nyssa admitted with a crinkle of her eyes that could be categorized as a smile.

She had a feeling that John had totally put Nyssa up to this. Damn that brother bear of hers…

"I have to get ready for my 10 AM appointment with Mr. Grant." Nyssa offered looking over Felicity's shoulder. "It was a nice first attempt, Oliver Queen. Perhaps you should consider setting up a schedule for some real training. I am sure you can afford my training time."

"Afford it, sure. Survive it, probably not." Felicity murmured watching her friend go before turning towards the man himself who thankfully had moved towards the edge of the mats, picked up his shirt and was now putting it back on.

Part of her was thankful that the skin was disappearing under the soft cotton fabric…the other part of her was sad to see it happen.

She really needed to get a grip on herself around this man!

"So." She said folding her arms above her chest "How sore are you going to be tomorrow?" she asked

"Nothing a few ice packs can't fix." He answered with a small smirk once the shirt was in place. "Let's just say it was a humbling experience."

"It should've been. Nyssa is the daughter of the demon after all."

The look on his face was priceless. So much, in fact, that she was tempted to get her phone out of her pocket so she could take a picture of it.

"The demon. Like the world wide known martial arts master?  _That_  demon?"

"Yup. She's been training under her father's watchful eye since she could walk." Felicity offered with a few nods of her head "If she's interested in training you, you should totally take her up on it. Most of the time she doesn't bother with just anyone unless she thinks there's potential there."

"Well… I guess I shouldn't feel that terrible about my less than impressive performance considering." Oliver said with a breathy chuckle, shoving his hands into the pockets of his jeans. "Listen, Felicity… I was wondering..."

A ring tone interrupted whatever he was going to say next and Felicity both wanted to fist pump the air and throw her arms up in frustration. Timing was everything. And if the puppy dog eyes he'd been giving her were any indication of where the previous conversation was going she had just been blocked, via phone call, from a potential invitation that though she was very much tempted to accept she would have regretfully had to decline. After all, he  **WAS**  a client.

"Yes Digg?" Oliver answered shooting her an apologetic look "Yeah, no I didn't forget about that. Yes. I'll be at the mansion soon. All right." Hanging up the phone and putting it away he looked at the ceiling for a moment before looking at her once more.

"Everything ok?"

"Yeah, I lost track of time, is all." He admitted rubbing his hand over his face, wincing slightly with the movement "Felicity. I wanted to thank you, personally, for what you did for Thea the other night. You and Roy really came through for us when you didn't have to." He took a few steps towards her until they were toe to toe, placing one of his hands on her shoulder. "I really appreciate all that you're doing to get to the bottom of this."

"It was nothing." She said with a shrug "Like John said, I like puzzles and this one though its turning out to be more complex, infuriating and frustrating than I originally thought it's one that I am more than willing to crack. And since John is on your corner so is the Arrow Security team."

"Thank you." The warmth of his eyes seeping deep into hers. "Felicity. Would you like to have dinner with me?"

The silence that followed might as well have been a century before she tore her eyes away from his.

"Uh…I cant." She replied with a shake of her head moving away from him.

His crestfallen expression was as if someone had punched him in the gut.

"Oh. I'm sorry…I guess I should've asked if there was someone… "

"Uh.. OH! God no! No no no! No… That's not it at all." She said waving her hands in a dismissive manner. "No no. No. There's no one. I mean, There are people! Obviously, you're a someone and there's other people in the world reaching billions in count, plus there's me but what I mean is that there's not a significant other  **FOR**  me that has me saying no to your offer to go to dinner. It's just… no." she finished weakly placing a hand on her cheek. "By google I can't even string a coherent sentence in your presence." She muttered with a shake of her head before steeling herself and straightening her shoulders glancing at him once more. "What I mean is; you're my client. Uh… let me rephrase that, you are a client of my company. Which means that this, you and me, relationship thing right now has to be very much a client/provider and non-dinner like thing."

"Oh."

"Oh? That's it? That's all I get? Oh?" she asked with a quirked eyebrow.

The smile that bloomed on his face was enough to make her knees go a little weak.

"Yes. Oh, for now. But I want you to know that when this situation is all over." He said looking deep into her eyes with that deep kind of focus that made her want to squirm in place before leaning down to whisper the rest of the sentence into her ear. "I would very much like for this, you and me, to become a dinner sort of thing, Felicity."

The way this man said her name was a sin. It had to be!

He pulled back enough to gauge her reaction before quickly leaning back in and kissing her cheek with a whisper like touch of both lips and scruff that sent fire through her body. Her traitorous eyelids fluttered closed momentarily but when she snapped them open again he was already taking a step back from her.

And then he had the nerve to wink at her.  _ **WINK**_! Before turning on his heel to head for the door, as if he didn't have a care in the world, as if she hadn't almost turned to a puddle because of his scent/presence/warmth a second ago.

"I'll see you around, Felicity." He said granting her a smile over his should before exiting the room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Used Google translate for Nyssa. كناري means Canary. إشراق means Sunshine.


End file.
